A floor sweeper is a light weight, inexpensive device used to pickup debris from surfaces such as floors. A prior art floor sweeper generally includes a handle, a chassis, wheels, a rotating brush, and a collection bin. In operation, a person grips the handle and pushes the floor sweeper around in the area to be cleaned. The wheels rotate in response to the motion, and transmit rotation to the brush. The rotating brush lifts debris off the floor and propels it into a collection bin. The collection bin can be periodically emptied.
Floor sweepers have become increasingly popular. A floor sweeper is manually-powered and therefore does not include heavy and complex components such as motors, vacuum pumps, electrical switches and cords, etc. Moreover, it has few moving parts. As a result, it is inexpensive. In addition, a floor sweeper is lightweight and easily maneuvered. Consequently, a floor sweeper can be quickly taken out, used, and put away. The simplicity and manual power of a floor sweeper results in a device that is light and small.
However, there are drawbacks to floor sweepers in the prior art. Due to the use of a rotating brush to pick up debris, not all debris will be removed from the surface. For example, fine dust may be missed by the brush, and large particles may be too heavy for the brush to propel into a collection bin. Therefore, the pickup action of the prior art floor sweeper is not satisfactory. In addition, the collection bin of a prior art floor sweeper has to be accessed and/or removed in order to be emptied. This requires extra time, and may be difficult to perform without spilling any accumulated debris.